Tuesday, 30 April 2013

Today's cartoon struck a chord with me as I pondered the pandemonium going on in the world right now. So much pain is caused by someone's religious beliefs, something that has gone on since the beginning of time. It is "time to move on: religion has cost too much." Take a look at this article online - it talks about how monotheism, in particular Christianity and Islam has caused so much violence. You may not agree with it all, but it does make one ponder. I am a Christian, but don't go to church because I have to keep my personal beliefs in check. I would end up arguing with the so-called leaders as they would consider me to be what they call a "pluralist." From Wikipedia:

Religious pluralism is an attitude or policy regarding the diversity of religious belief systems co-existing in society. It can indicate one or more of the following:

As the name of the worldview according to which one's religion is not the sole and exclusive source of truth, and thus the acknowledgement that at least some truths and true values exist in other religions.

The understanding that the exclusive claims of different religions turn out, upon closer examination, to be variations of universal truths that have been taught since time immemorial. This is called Perennialism (based on the concept of philosophia perennis) or Traditionalism.

Sunday, 14 April 2013

New is the look of this old Crab-apple tree

I 'd like to introduce the N of New trees and New blossoms

A New spring and a New sound of young birds we hear for the first time.

All trees look like new. Their flowers are here for the first time and... for the last time. They are so beautiful, but their lives are so short.Every new spring brings new flowers, new birds, new hope.... Enjoy and admire the new introduction of N!

New crab-apple blossom.

IMPORTANT

If you take part in this game, please use the letter N in a photo, or in a poem, a story...whatever, and refer to the founder of this meme:Mrs. Denise Nesbitt and to Roger who took over from her. Please don't forget!!

I hope to see you all!

Wil, ABCW Team

Tuesday, 9 April 2013

How many of you watched the Oscars this year? How many of the movies that were nominated had you seen? I hadn't seen a lot of them at the time of the Oscars, but I'm glad Argo won for Best Picture. I'm personally not a fan of Quentin Tarantino so didn't care about his win for Best Original Screenplay or Christopher Waltz for Best Supporting Actor in Django Unchained. I'm also not a fan of musicals, so gave Les Miserables a pass. I'd already read the book at university and had seen the version with Liam Neeson years ago. Recently, I read the book Silver Linings Playbook and could not imagine how they'd make that into a movie, so also gave that one a pass.

However, I read Life of Pi when it was first published and loved the book. So when I decided to see the movie, I was unsure how I'd feel about its treatment. I think it was well done and the cinematography was marvelous! This is one movie that actually works well in 3D. I'm glad Ang Lee won for Best Director and Mychael Danna for Best Original Score. I also saw Searching for Sugarman, which won for Best Documentary and highly recommend it. The Best Animated Short, Paperman by John Kahrs was great, and I think you can see it online now.

I do enjoy the movies and now that I have a large screen television set, I'm able to watch them in peace and relaxation at home. We have seen Skyfall (amazing song by Adele, by the way) and Flight at home and are planning to watch Zero Dark Thirty soon. There are some, however, that one absolutely must see on the huge movie theater screens - Life of Pi for one!

What was your favourite movie of the past year? What was your favourite moment at the Oscars? Mine was when Jennifer Lawrence fell as she was mounting the stage to get her award - she was very mature about it and went on to give a most momentous speech in thanks. Now on to your M posts!

Tuesday, 2 April 2013

When I started blogging, very often on some comments I read "lol" after a sentence. As always when I don't understand a thing I google ! (which btw is a new verb too) and now I know ! LOL is an acronym for "laughing out loud" or "laugh out loud", and is a common element of Internet slang. But then sometimes I read "LMAO", and had to google again ! When I learned that it meant "laughing my ass off" I decided to rather use "LMPO", which would mean that I laugh my posterior off. I don't have an ass, I am a lady !

LOL was first documented in the Oxford English Dictionary in March 2011. WOW !